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Another Trailer Spindle Project. 😁

Backlash

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Good evening! We have a jet ski trailer that hasn't seen much use lately and has been quietly collecting dust. I'm almost finished with the repairs on the ski, so we should be dragging this back out to Parker this summer. I was cleaning up the driveway and went to move this ski and trailer out of the way. I could barely get the sucker to roll. Hahaaa!! And then I thought about Lazy Lavey and his spindle dealio. 😁

Out came the floor jack and some tools. I pulled everything apart and the spindle would barely turn. It sounded like the bearings were full of gravel. 😲

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Well, it turned out not to be sand and gravel....it was rust. Take a look at the seal in the picture above. Whoever installed that sucker was having a bad day.

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I'll be heading to the bearing shop in the morning to hopefully pick up some replacement parts. I sure am glad I didn't try dragging this thing down the road in the condition it was in. It would have been a mess. πŸ™„

Thank you Lazy Lavey! I appreciate the motivation from your thread!
 
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Backlash

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Well today was a let down. I used to get all my bearings and races from a little spot over in El Monte. Apparently they have closed up shop! 🀬 What a drag! Time to start shopping around.....
 

CobraDave

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That thing is gonna spin smooooth after new hardware!


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4Waters

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Well today was a let down. I used to get all my bearings and races from a little spot over in El Monte. Apparently they have closed up shop! 🀬 What a drag! Time to start shopping around.....
Wire wheel the bearings and see if you can read the numbers, if you can go to napa auto parts they are usually pretty good at cross referencing numbers.
 

Backlash

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Wire wheel the bearings and see if you can read the numbers, if you can go to napa auto parts they are usually pretty good at cross referencing numbers.

Yes Sir that will the next step. Gotta finish a list of honey-do's before I tear into it. πŸ˜‰
 

4Waters

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Yes Sir that will the next step. Gotta finish a list of honey-do's before I tear into it. πŸ˜‰
Our local napa cross referenced a set original pinion bearings from a '31 Model A with out a problem and had them in stock.
 

Backlash

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That's crazy! I've been buying more "Random" day to day items at O'Reilly, but will definitely be heading to Napa for these. πŸ‘
 

Backlash

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No Sir I havent had the chance to run over there to speak with them. But I'm sure it will be interesting if I did! πŸ˜πŸ‘
 

Backlash

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I finally got some parts in, so its time to tear into these hubs. I was able to use this high-quality Harbor Freight special to start pulling the races out of the hub. It's not the greatest tool, but it also isn't very expensive either. 😁 I managed to free a few of them up, but one is in there pretty good. 🀬

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In the next picture, you can see how worn the races are.

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I also got two new tires for this trailer and had those replaced. I was surprised that the local tire shop couldn't dismount or remount a tire on a 12" wheel. They said it was too small for their machine. So if you're in the San Gabriel Valley area, and looking for a place that CAN do this, try King's Tires on Baldwin Avenue north of Valley Boulevard. Those guys got me in and out in a matter of minutes. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program....

Thank you for following along! Stay safe and have a nice evening! πŸ˜‰
 

timstoy

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Next time Shadow trailers in Cypress has everything you need in stock and have a large selection of tires in stock and mount them while you wait. They also have a location in Havasu. They also mail order, Fritz the owner stands behind his parts and labor.
 

Backlash

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Next time Shadow trailers in Cypress has everything you need in stock and have a large selection of tires in stock and mount them while you wait. They also have a location in Havasu. They also mail order, Fritz the owner stands behind his parts and labor.

Thank you for the info. Sir I appreciate it. There are several options here in the L.A. area where you can pick these parts up. So far, I think I'm into this dealio for less than $100 including mounting the new tires. The bearings and seals are relatively inexpensive. I'm still bummed about the bearing shop in El Monte closing its doors. 🀬
 

Backlash

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Modern trailer is closed or who are you referring to?

No Sir, there was a bearing place on Rush Street east of Rosemead that I heard closed up shop. "Bearings and Drives, Inc." I had used them in the past and they had an incredible selection.
 

Backlash

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Good morning! This "Simple" project wasn't so simple. I was able to get a few of the races out of these hubs, and a few that were more than stubborn and refused to budge! Long story short, I ended up at a machine shop that was referred to me by a complete stranger. I was MORE than impressed with the results!

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The machinist explained to me that there is a design flaw with many trailer hubs where the bearing race seats inside the hub. The interior of the hub is smooth and there isn't a way to get a drift or a punch up against the bottom side of the bearing race. Without this small notch or groove, removing stubborn races is a chore. So he solved the problem quickly and efficiently for me.

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You can see in the picture above how he removed a small amount of material from inside the hub body. It provides more surface area on the bottom side of the bearing race in order to push the race out of the hub when it needs to be replaced. Simple and effective!
 
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Backlash

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The machinist said they try to do this on every trailer hub that they service because it makes life much easier later on down the road.

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The total bill for pounding out a few stubborn races, cutting the notches, and re-installing four races.... $20.

😁

And they did this while I waited and used the parts I had purchased and brought with me. I couldn't be happier!

So here is the info. if anyone is in the same situation and needs a local machine shop to perform this type of work.

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Next up is to clean things up and put this all back together. Thank you for following along!
 

dspracing

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No Sir, there was a bearing place on Rush Street east of Rosemead that I heard closed up shop. "Bearings and Drives, Inc." I had used them in the past and they had an incredible selection.
That place was cool for the occasional bearing as they had great stock. But the service and pricing did not allow them to support the bigger customers. As such, I’m not surprised they went under.
 

Backlash

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That place was cool for the occasional bearing as they had great stock. But the service and pricing did not allow them to support the bigger customers. As such, I’m not surprised they went under.

I liked the fact that they would offer you an inexpensive replacement, or a USA made bearing if there was one available. πŸ‘
 

Backlash

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Good evening! I spent the day working on other projects and honey-do's, so I didn't make a lot of headway here. I picked up some last-minute parts for this project and squirreled them away for reassembly. I got the hubs cleaned up and majority of the rust and grime off using a wire wheel. I taped things up real quick then got a few light coats of primer on both of the hub bodies. Now they get to dry overnight and I'll try to get some paint on them first thing in the morning.

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I could have simply assembled them and bolted them back on as they are in the picture above, but that's just not me. 😁
 

Backlash

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That's it for now. Thank you for following along! Have a wonderful evening and stay safe!
 

Backlash

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Good morning! I threw some color down this morning and am letting these hubs bake in the sun. Turning out pretty good considering this is a rattle-can job. 😁

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Backlash

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Good afternoon! Just finished packing all the bearings with marine grease and got everything put back together. Almost finished up!

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I need to pick up a tube of marine grease to top off the new Bearing Buddies, and that's about it for this part of the project.
 

CobraDave

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Such an improvement! One thing I have not had to do yet is tear into bearings, knock on wood. Good work there.


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Backlash

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Thank you for the kind words Sir! πŸ‘ Believe me, I had no intentions of doing this either. But when I couldn't even roll the damn trailer to move it around on the driveway, I didn't have much choice. I am happy this all happened right here at home in our driveway and not on the road to the river. That would have sucked! I was able to get things torn apart, inspected and replaced, cleaned up and reassembled. Should be good to go for a bit now.

Speaking to the machinist I went to see, he recommended servicing boat trailer hubs on a yearly basis. Having all of the part numbers and locations where to get these parts will make it much easier in the future. I'll post everything up to use as a reference later this week. Thank you for following along!
 

Backlash

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Good afternoon! I have basically finished with this little project, so I thought I would put together a list of parts I used along with pricing and locations where I sourced these parts.

This trailer is a basic single axle Shorelander jet ski trailer. No frills and definitely nothing fancy. This trailer uses Dico 5 lug hubs and bitchen 12" wheels and tires. 😁

Dico hub: Part # 45263. Can be purchased online, although I did not purchase any.

Lug nuts: AutoZone & O'Reilly, "Dorman," Part # 611-154.1. These are 1/2-20 threads. $1.99 each.

Bearings and races: O'Reilly, "MasterPro," Part #31447. On their receipt, it's listed as "MPB A4," $7.99 each. You'll need two bearings and races for each hub.

Axle seal: O'Reilly, "National Oil Seals," Part #470050. $9.99 each. You'll need one for each hub.

I re-used the large washer under the spindle nut.

Spindle nut (Castle Nut): Ace Hardware, "Hillman," Part #2698-R. $2.89 each.

Cotter Pin: Home Depot, "Everbilt," 5/32"x2." $2.00.

Bearing Buddies: O'Reilly, Part #1980SS. $26.99.

Your choice of marine bearing grease.

The total cost in parts for this little project was $107.00. That doesn't include the $20 fee from the machine shop to press out the rusted in races, or any primer, paint, grease or brake cleaner. If you are in the same situation with the same trailer, I would suggest ordering these parts ahead of time and waiting until you have everything you need before you tear into it. It's not a difficult job and really only takes a few minutes if you're not distracted and dont run in to any surprises. 😁

Hopefully this helps some of you out. Have a great day and stay safe!
 

timstoy

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In a pinch you can use a die grinder with a long shank carbide cutter to grind a groove under bearing race for race removal. Been doing it for years. Always carry spare bearings,seals,cotter pins and grease. My Sons boat trailer has a spare tire holder that has a spinde with a complete hub assembly to hold a matching spare tire. Nice to know you have a complete hub assembly and doesn’t take any room to store.
 
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